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The Bardo National Museum in Tunis houses an important collection of Roman Byzantine early Christian funerary mosaics. The importance of North Africa as an important centre of early Christianity is often overlooked, mostly due to the conflicts between the Pope in Rome and the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. Western history has ignored the Roman Byzantine Empire largely that's to Edward Gibbon whose enlightenment sensibilities were incensed by the immoral lives Roman Byzantine Emperors lived....more »

The Bardo National Museum in Tunis houses an important collection of Roman Byzantine early Christian funerary mosaics. The importance of North Africa as an important centre of early Christianity is often overlooked, mostly due to the conflicts between the Pope in Rome and the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. Western history has ignored the Roman Byzantine Empire largely that's to Edward Gibbon whose enlightenment sensibilities were incensed by the immoral lives Roman Byzantine Emperors lived.

The early Christian church grew though in the Eastern and northern Mediterranean and many fine examples of early Christian art come from these areas. One of the most important fathers of the Church who helped shape the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy was St Augustin who came from Hippo Regius Roman North Africa (present day Algeria). North Africa was one of the heartlands of early Christianity up until it was conquered in the 6th century by Islam.

The early Roman Byzantine funerary mosaics are rare examples of early Christian devotion and give us an insight into early Christian thinking. The Roman Byzantine mosaics at the Bardo are not as highly crated as the Roman mosaics that preceded them but they are very touching in their simplicity and devotion. When the deceased are depicted they are shown in a simple way wearing simple dress which suggests that these early Christians were not ostentatious people.

The dogmatic iconography of the Eastern Orthodox Church is visible in the careful use of symbols in the walk in fonts from Dougga as well as recurring symbols of lit candles that represent eternal life. Birds are common to many of the mosaics possibly inferring that the deceased soul has flown to heaven.

There is a simple beauty in these early Christian mosaics that contrasts with the flamboyant Roman mosaics that preceded them and the high art of the Roman Catholic Church that followed.

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